


Next Time, Put A Sock On The Doorknob.

by smudgay



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, im done, wtf tags do i put
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-16
Updated: 2016-09-16
Packaged: 2018-08-15 10:25:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 3,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8052733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smudgay/pseuds/smudgay
Summary: Max and Victoria never wanted to expose their complicated relationship. The two learn the hard way that secrets are hard to keep when you live with a gaggle of nosy girls.And then somehow it all leads to an exorcism.(Each of the dorm girls finding out about Victoria and Max's relationship and the hijinks that ensue)





	1. Brooke

**Author's Note:**

> For a prompt from tumblr! You can follow my tumblr, Smudgay, if you want and send me prompts :) I might get to them very slowly though...lmao

Brooke wasn't asking for trouble, though, it seemed she got it anyway. Whether it was fate or simple bad luck, she didn't quite know, but she knew that there would never be enough bleach in the world for her eyes.

Brooke has never been filled with more regret. She should have knocked. She should have peered into the crack of the door before advancing forward. In the end, Brooke turned out to be the unlucky one.

With one hand frozen on Max's door knob and the other gently hovering over her agape mouth, Brooke realized she'd just witness something she was never meant to see.

And how do you apologize for a mistake no one knows you made? Because, thank _god_ , neither girl halted their actions to acknowledge Brooke.

And so, with eyes glued to the half-naked body of Max pinned under the equally naked body of Victoria, out of pure terror or shock (she didn't know which one it was), Brooke left.

She never did get what she was looking for that day, and she's been too scared to ask for it now.

Brooke could never look at Max the same way again, and she fought hard to hold back the desire to tell Warren just how much of a chance he didn't have.

But she was pretty happy about that last part.


	2. Kate

There were two things that Kate Marsh had to process; first, that it was a girl and second, that it was Victoria Chase.

Kate had always been taught that homosexuality was bad, she didn't know where she stood on that whole topic but she knew that Max wasn't bad. So, by her logic, anything Max did couldn't be bad. They were friends, pals, _comrades_. Max had saved her and Kate knew the least she could do was accept that Max might have a preference towards women.

Of course, that didn't mean Kate would accept that it happened to be Victoria Chase. In fact, she vowed to never accept that the snobby, rude and harsh girl had captured Max's heart.

So, Kate stayed in the in the shower, listening as Victoria and Max exchanged sweet banter, loving even. But Kate would not be deceived, she knew that forces out of this world were at play. No, not aliens; _demons_.

And just as Max had saved her, Kate promised to save Max in return.

"I will banish the demon possessing you Max," Kate mumbled to herself, resolve filling her.

Of course, she had to wait until the two of them stopped telling each other how cute they were so that she could lea--Oh god.

Oh dear _lord_.

Was that moaning?


	3. Alyssa

Alyssa never had to worry about her head anymore, with Max there protecting her she knew she'd never have to worry about another football again.

That is, until her head gets hit with an unusual object; panties.

At first, she thinks it's a joke, it has to be. Then she realizes that as she looks around, there is no one there, and so it's not a joke.

So Alyssa looks at the source of the throw, the room behind her. Victoria's room.

She pauses, thinks and gags.

So Victoria is having sex? Okay. Nothing new probably.

But the panties are still balled in her hand so she decides to take a look at them. They are a soft, pink cotton with white elastic. They don't look like something Victoria would wear.

And at close inspection, she notices that Victoria has _never_ worn these, because they'd never fit her right and far too often had she seen Max in this exact pair. It was Max's morning pants after all.

She dropped them immediately.

Okay. _Ew._

If this was what Max wore, and it had just been tossed out of Victoria's room then...

Alyssa pauses, thinks and gags.

It turns out to be good fanfiction fuel though, so she's thankful for that.


	4. Stella

Stella likes to keep out of trouble, she's here for a good education and an opportunity she couldn't get anywhere else. 

So, of course, _naturally_   she's at the library after hours, face buried into a textbook.

She's a hardworker, a dedicated student, the kind of person that wouldn't let whoever _thought_ they were whispering from the table in the corner deter her from studying.

Okay, composition. You frame a scene by--

_"Come on, you're the one that said you wanted to study."_

Stella groaned. Flipping to another chapter.

Okay, so filming a point of view. There are no hard or fast--

_"Well maybe you shouldn't have agreed to be my partner, partner."_

Stella groaned. One more time, she chanted to herself, just one more time.

 _Okay_ , position nine. This one has the players facing--

_"Well if I knew you were so grabby..."_

Stella groaned, for the last time. For the last, god damn time. She wouldn't take this, she worked hard to be here, she deserved every right to a nice and quiet working space.

She turned in her seat, mouth open and finger ready to scold but...she found herself staring at something far more confusing than any concept she'd ever studied. 

There, a ways away but right _there_ , in front of her, totally real and totally not a dream, was Victoria Chase snuggled right up against Maxine Caulfield in the dark of the library.

Stella blinked.

Victoria leaned over and kissed Max's cheek. Max giggled.

Stella pinched herself.

Victoria got up, disappearing into the bookshelves. Max stared longingly after her.

Stella packed her things slowly.

She wasn't sure when she reached her room, or when she slept, or when she woke up the next day and got dressed and somehow got to class.

But she was sure she failed that test, and really, she didn't blame herself at all.


	5. Dana + Juliet

Raising a single, pink sock up, Dana scowled. "Juliet, you turned everything pink again."

"Well, maybe you should stop making me do the laundry."

"Maybe you should stop putting your lingerie in the wash with our clothes. I don't even know why you wear it, it's not like anyone even likes that stuff. You look fine without it."

"It's just to show that I care, not that you would know though." Juliet shrugged, "Anyway, how else am I going to wash it?"

"Literally a hundred other ways, Juliet." Dana sighed, pushing herself off her bed and waving the sock in front of Juliet's face like she were a dog, and the sock was a treat. "Come on," she motioned, "I'm going to have to borrow socks from Victoria."

Juliet crossed her arms, Dana always did this. This talking in not complete sentences as if she'd ever have a clue what they were _really_ talking about. "So what?" she frowned, how long had she known Dana now? There were still parts of her that were confusing.

Like how she managed to do her makeup so quickly, or why she was so freaking pretty that it wasn't fair and oh god Juliet could swear that Zachary looked at her as she walked by....or maybe she was looking at Dana...but that was totally because she took her pants the other day and didn't give them back and it was so uncool that Dana looked better in them with her butt and....wait....what were they talking about?

Juliet shook her head. " _I_ don't need to tag along."

"I borrowed her headband a few days ago, it'd be better if you asked for socks." Dana pushed her dormmate out the door, "Just do this for me, okay?"

"Okay," Juliet sighed, "But you do the laundry next time."

Dana could only grunt in response, she hoped, even though she knew she'd do it anyway because Juliet asked, that her friend would forget about it and do the laundry for them again. She liked then Juliet did the laundry, she'd always fold the underwear. Which was something Dana personally thought was stupid, but appreciated it oddly when Juliet did it for her....ignoring how strange it was for her to be touching her underwear in the first place.

"Uh....D." Juliet froze in place, peering into Victoria's ajar room door.

"What's wrong?"

"You know how you were saying the stuff about the lingerie?"

"Yes?"

"So what does it mean when someone takes a picture of themselves in lingerie?"

" _You're_ asking _me_?"

"...well..."

Juliet turned, in her shaking hands was a polaroid of Victoria, sitting in lingerie on the edge of her bed; grinning, face flushed.

Dana blinked. In the corner was the date of the photo, in the corner was today's date.

"Who is she sexing up now?" Juliet growled, "Zach? Trevor? Someone's dad?"

"Calm down, Juliet. It's not like she took it herself, someone obviously took it for her."

Juliet looked at the picture again, scowling at it as if it might confess to something.

"Well," Dana raised an eyebrow at her friend, "What do you think Miss X-treme reporter?"

"Who even takes polaroids anymore?" Juliet scrunched up her nose, "I mean besides--"

"Max!"

"Yeah well there's no way that Max would have taken a--Oh." Juliet looked up, shoving the photo into her pocket, not caring how it might have crumbled. "Max, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, I was just..." Max rubbed her hands together, as if she was trying to start a fire with them. "..L-looking for something."

Suspicious, Juliet thought. Of course it was. Max had just appeared out of nowhere in front of Victoria's room....looking for something....

Could it be Max's boyfriend that Victoria is sexing up? Oh! The poor girl!

"Right, well your room is _right there_." Dana sighed, almost anticipating Juliet's train of thought.

Right. Max's room is right across from Victoria's...less suspicious then.

"And what are you looking for? Maybe we can help?" Dana smiled, Juliet wondered how she did it so effortlessly. Then she remembered that this was the very same girl who she'd seen spill chocolate milk over herself an hour ago.

"Uh...you know...just...I dropped...Oh!" Max laughed nervously, "I just remembered that I left it in my room! Oops." She rubbed her neck, pulling down her shirt unintentionally but just enough for Juliet to catch a glimpse of a what could only be described as a hickey.

Juliet's eyes lit up, "Max, did you get a boyfriend?" _Is Victoria ruining it for you? Is there something interesting?_

Max paled, "N-No."

"That's fine Max, just ignore Juliet."

Juliet frowned, but decided not to argue.

"Do you mind doing me a favour Max?" Dana smiled again, Juliet frowned more.

"Sure?"

"Do you have your camera on you?"

"I always do!"

Juliet smiled, she knew where this was going. They were going to take pictures to create evidence against Victoria and her attacking of Max's new boyfriend. Or maybe Dana wanted to see pictures of Max's boyfriend? Or maybe it was _this_ or _that_ and Juliet's mind ran idea after idea until she saw Dana ask Max to take a photo of Dana's new pink sock, for whatever stupid reason. And then she heard them converse about how Max had to go run out to buy more film because she ran out, and that she took a lot of photos today, for whatever reason. Dana wasn't asking the right questions though, they should have been inquiring about the boyfriend. Pffft, what did Dana know?

When Max finally left and Dana and Juliet began their walk back to their room, empty-handed, Dana spoke slowly, in an almost-whisper. "I think there's something wrong with Max."

"Me too," Juliet smiled.

Amused and intrigued by whatever nonsense Juliet was sure to spew, Dana urged her roommate to continue speaking.

"Of course, I'm not a reporter for no reason. Max has a boyfriend and Victoria is ruining it for her."

"You know what," Dana smiled, "That's probably the closest to the truth you've ever been in your life."

Juliet scowled, letting Dana go on to explain.

"You see," the cheerleader held up the picture Max took of her newly pinkened sock, "This is what a photo from Max's camera looks like, date printed in the bottom and all."

"So?"

Dana groaned, pulling out the picture of Victoria from Juliet's pocket. "Look." And so, Juliet looked.

"They're the same!" She smiled, then when she thought about it more her face turned into an expression of shock, then horror, then concern.

"I think there's something wrong with Max."

"Demons?"

"Totally."


	6. The Exorcism

"Okay, but does there really need to be a picture of a half-naked Victoria in the center of this?" Brooke gagged a little, asking out of pure disgust with the image before her.

"It's the only tie that we have to the demons." Kate shook her head, lighting the last candle.

Dana held her cross closer to her, she didn't know how the rest of the dorm had eventually agreed on it but they found themselves sitting in Kate's room, huddled in a circle trying to...what was the word? Exorcise? Like that thing they did in the movies...except this was real. They had crosses and holy water and candles and everything.

Juliet looked at Dana, then at Stella grumbling in the corner about how unnecessary and clearly not scientifically backed this was. "Okay but...like...this'll help Max, right?"

Alyssa piped in, the only time she had the whole hour they'd been cramped together, "Max is a good kid, I don't think she deserves a _Victoria_."

The girls in the room nodded together, agreeing unanimously.

"Okay," Kate put her hand in the center of the circle, "I have a lock of Max's hair."

Brooke groaned, "Creepy."

"I have Max's panties." Alyssa offered them to the center.

Brooke groaned again, "Even creepier."

Kate shook her head, "Every bit helps."

"I think we can get rid of the panties though." Dana picked them out of the circle, tossing them aside. She didn't know how Alyssa got them, and she didn't want to know. The possibility that Max actually might romantically like Victoria was shocking enough for her.

"This is so stupid," Stella offered, unmoving from her spot in the corner of Kate's room. "Obviously it's some psychological issue."

"Or spirits," Juliet replied slowly, the shock of the truth hadn't worn out of her yet. It hadn't worn out of anyone.

They were willing to believe whatever reasoning felt like it fit best, they were ready to believe anything as long as it let them know that Max would be okay, that something was wrong but they could fix it. That Max Caulfield would _never_ and Victoria Chase wouldn't _dare_.

Spirits. Or Demons. Or Aliens. Anything felt better than what might have been the truth.

So after hours and hours of chanting, and arguing and trying to theorize, a knock at the door snapped them into a silence.

"Hello?" Courtney's voice drifted into the room, then her face poked in from behind the door.

"Oh!" She perked up, inviting herself in. "When I heard all the noise I thought someone was dying but it looks like their already dead and you're...sacrificing...?" She pointed to a candle.

"It's for Max," Kate sighed, "You're not allowed in here, Courtney."

"It's stupid anyway," Dana sighed, gripping Juliet's hand in an attempt to get her friend to get up with her. "Whatever they do is their business."

"They?" Courtney stepped forward, glancing around the room until her eyes fell to an image of Victoria covered in...water? (Holy water, Kate would have reminded her if she voiced her concern). "You mean Max and Victoria? I think it's great!"

The girls looked at each other, then at Courtney.

If it was acceptable to scream, they all would have.


	7. Courtney + Taylor

It started slow, with annoyingly frequent remarks about Max. "Oh, Max _this"_ or "Oh Max _that"._ They were insults at first ("Oh, Max just thinks she's _cooler_ than everyone"), but they soon fizzled into obvious observations ("Oh, Max just has this annoying brown hair"), to something neither Courtney nor Taylor could describe ("Do you think Max likes cookies?").

Courtney didn't think anything of it, maybe this is just what the cool kids did. Maybe she should start talking about Max.

_"You know, Max told me I have a great fashion sense! I think I'm going to take her shopping!"_

And Victoria glared so deep into her that Courtney was sure she died that day.

But Taylor _knew_.

_"You know Victoria, it's okay if you're gay...or if you just happen to like Max."_

And Victoria flushed so deep that Taylor was sure that she hit the nail on the head.

Of course, it was no secret to either Courtney or Taylor that Victoria admired Max, and her affections for the girl didn't come as much of a surprise in the end. They figured it would fade, Victoria would go back to being Victoria and the three would forget all about it.

Except that didn't happen, and it surprised all three girls.

It was slow at first, subtle. Victoria tried her best to navigate something that she had no experience with, she wanted to be the kind of person that she wanted to be; honest and happy. Max let her be those things, without any sort of reward and Courtney or Taylor couldn't disagree with something like that.

Victoria was happier, nicer, more open. Max was more confident, more assured. Both of them were less lonely and no one seemed to notice how all of a sudden, the school seemed a little brighter.

Courtney thought it was sweet, it was a step in a better direction for her.

Taylor was worried, but any fear she thought she might have had faded when she saw the two together. Taylor didn't think of herself as much of a romantic, but it was important to be with someone who challenged you, right? Who made you strive to be better but also supported you? Maybe she was looking too far into it, Taylor didn't know, but she knew that they were happier, and that should have been that.

* * *

The girls gathered around, listening to Courtney's story intently. She made it seem so romantic, so happy but they knew the kind of person that Victoria was and they were sure that they knew Max.

"But do you?" Courtney shrugged, "I mean, has Victoria even done anything recently?"

She hadn't.

"And doesn't Max speak up in class more?"

She did.

"Then?"

They looked at each other; at the candles and the intimate photo and the holy water.

Here were two girls in love, doing better for each other. Wasn't that all that mattered?

 


	8. Victoria + Max

_Maybe roses and chocolates_ was _cliched, or maybe it wasn't really, Victoria wouldn't really know. She never bought roses or chocolates, she never asked people out, she never told people that she liked them. She was never like this, so open and unsure. It was painful, it made her want to curl up and snap at someone._

_But she couldn't, not now._

_Not when she knew it wasn't what she really wanted._

_She was willing to_ try, _if Max was too._

_And in a small voice, scared of the future, but ready to try it anyway, she asked: "Will you go out with me?"_

* * *

 

"They held an exorcism apparently." Victoria thought that it should have been funny, something for her to laugh at but instead she found herself staring absently at the apology cake that the girls happened to bake. They'd only done it because they were sure that she was some horrible person that didn't deserve Max, and Victoria didn't want to think about how they might have been right. Even if they really might have been right, and even if she knew that, and even if she was trying to fix it and even if Max told her it was okay. She thought about these things enough already, a cake was overkill.

Max shrugged, "Well, you were pretty bad at the whole secret angle." Max ran her finger over the cake, taking frosting off to eat it. She'd always liked the frosting most about a cake, there was just something scary about slicing straight into a bunch of layers to pull out a chunk.

The blonde sighed and snuggled against Max, "You're the idiot that forgets to close the door fully."

"You're the one that's always in a rush." Max tasted the frosting, it was sweet, which wasn't a surprise at all yet it still somehow brightened her mood.

It was peaceful, they didn't need to say thing to fill the silence, which was something Victoria was still getting used to, despite how often it happened.

This time, however, Victoria had something to say.

"Do you think they're right?"

"I don't know. I'm not a moral compass."

"I didn't mean it like that," Victoria slid her hand into Max's, "You know what I mean."

Max paused, "Well, I still don't know. But this is what I want."

Victoria brought Max's hand up to her lips, pressing a soft kiss to it. "Me too."

* * *

_Victoria shifted, shifting her weight rapidly from leg to leg as if she was getting ready for a jog._

_Max stared at her, blinking over and over again to check if she was really seeing what was in front of her; Victoria freaking Chase holding a bouquet of roses and a box of chocolates like she was in a movie._

_Max felt like some part of her would never get over this, Victoria Chase and flowers and chocolates and dates and kissing and not being alone....but if it ever did, she was glad it might be with Victoria, who seemed equally as scared yet eager._

_"Yes," Max began slowly, almost wanting to torment Victoria, "I'd love to be your girlfriend." From now, until where ever life would take them; apart or closer together, but better either way._


End file.
